Wednesday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings
First Reading – 1 Cor 12:31-13:13
Brothers and sisters: Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts. But I shall show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 33:2-3, 4-5, 12 and 22 (R. 12)
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten stringed lyre chant his praises.
Sing to him a new song;
pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness. R.
For upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full. R.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you. R.
Gospel – Lk 7:31-35
Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
Featured Saints
St. Joseph of Cupertino, priest (†1663). Religious from the Order of Friars Minor Conventual of Osimo (Italy). Although little endowed with natural gifts, he was, nonetheless, favoured with extraordinary mystical graces.
St. Dominic Trach, priest and martyr (†1840). Arrested during the religious persecution in Vietam, he succeeded, while in prison, in leading St. Thomas Toán back to the Faith which he had abandoned out of weakness. Defying threats and torture, he refused to tread upon a cross e was decapitated.
St. Ferreolus, martyr (†third century). Roman tribune in the city of Vienne (France), he was imprisoned during the time of persecution, tortured, and finally decapitated for refusing to arrest Christians.
St. Richardis (†895). Spouse of Holy Roman Emperor Charles III. After her husband’s death, she retired to the monastery of Andlau, which she had founded.
Blesseds Fernando García Sendra and José García Mas, priests and martyrs (†1936). Captured and executed during the Spanish Civil War.
Blessed Joseph Kut, priest and martyr (†1942). Polish priest, imprisoned and tortured in Dachau concentration camp, where he died.
Blessed David Okelo and Gildo Irwa, martyrs (†1918). Two youths speared with lances in a village in northern Uganda for having proclaimed the Gospel to their people.
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